Colorado Avalanche center Peter Forsberg (21) slips past the defense of Detroit Red Wings goalie Chris Osgood, left, and center Igor Larionov for the Avalanche’s fifth goal during the third period in Game 6 of the Western Conference semifinals in Detroit, Tuesday, May 18, 1999. The Avalanche defeated the Red Wings 5-2 to advance to the finals. (Associated Press file)

The Avalanche’s pre-sale ticket package for the Feb. 27 NHL Stadium Series game against the Detroit Red Wings at Coors Field will include admission to a Feb. 26 alumni game between some of the biggest names from both teams from 1996-2002. Joe Sakic, Patrick Roy, Peter Forsberg and Rob Blake will play for the Avalanche, among others, and Chris Chelios, Brendan Shanahan, Nicklas Lidstrom and Igor Larionov are among those who will suit up for the Red Wings.

The pre-sale is for full-season ticket members, suite holders and sponsors, and will go on sale Aug. 10 for prices between $70 and $430.

Avalanche defenseman Erik Johnson dives for the puck against the Carolina Hurricanes during the first period of an NHL hockey game Saturday, Nov. 22, 2014, in Denver. (Jack Dempsey, Associated Press)”

Not since they were called the Hartford Whalers have the Carolina Hurricanes won a game in Denver (0-9-2). That win, a 3-2 Whale triumph at the old McNichols Sports Arena, came on Feb. 9, 1996. I recently actually went back and watched the entire VHS tape of that game and documented it all in one of my “Watching Old Avs Games” pieces on the blog. Give it a read for what life was like back in 1996.

Anyway, I thought the Hurricanes would break the hex tonight. The precise moment I really thought that was in the second period of a 3-1 game and Alex Semin had just a tap-in to make to make it a 4-1 game. Even Semin, one of the biggest underachievers in the NHL right now, would make that one and nobody ever comes back from a three-goal deficit anymore. Game over, I thought. But Calvin Pickard did kind of a reverse, backhanded glove save and also with his stick to keep it still a two-goal game. Read more…

That’s Peter Forsberg and his young son, Lennox, at the Hall of Fame in Toronto, where he and Rob Blake, and others, will be inducted into the Hall of Fame on Monday night. You can read more about Peter, Lennox and much more in my story on him in Monday’s paper. Part I of the two-part series is here.

The ceremony will be televised on the NHL Network on Monday night. My guide on my TV says it starts at 5 p.m. Mountain time on the channel, but I saw other places that it won’t be shown until 6. I guess you just have to tune in to find out. The actual ceremony does start at 5 p.m. Mountain in Toronto, but I thought it would be shown on tape delay on NHL Net. Hey, I’m not a TV Guide person.

No, losing Matt Duchene for a month or so isn’t a good thing for the Burgundy and Blue’s playoff chances. But in a short-term situation, in a seven-game playoff series, possibly with home-ice, the Avs can withstand this and advance.

First, a history lesson: I was one of the first to proclaim the Avs were done like dinner after they lost Peter Forsberg to a ruptured spleen after the second round in 2001. No way the Avs could win a Cup without Foppa, I said. Judges? (Insert loud buzzer sound here).

The Avs just pulled up their socks, everybody just asked a little more from themselves and they got that Stanley Cup all right. (Of course, that Avs team also had Patrick Roy, Joe Sakic, Rob Blake, Adam Foote, Milan Hejduk, Chris Drury and Alex Tanguay, but I digress).

Rob Blake and 2001 Stanley Cup-winning teammate Patrick Roy met during the Los Angeles Kings’ skate this morning at the Pepsi Center, after Roy spoke to the media. Blake, the former Kings/Avs/Sharks defenseman, is the Kings’ assistant GM under Dean Lombardi. Here’s the lineup for tonight’s game, with the executives below that (pardon my scribbling):

Stan Kroenke, owner of the Denver Nuggets, before Game 7 of the first round of the NBA playoffs on Saturday, May 12, 2012, at the Staples Center in Los Angeles.

Seems as if Stan Kroenke’s time as majority owner of the Arsenal football club in the United Kingdom is in some turmoil.

A blistering story in London’s Daily Mail revealed a letter written to Kroenke from minority shareholders of the team, complaining of a “tight” financial atmosphere that has led to selling off of expensive players and cheap replacements.

It always seems to happen, right? The first law of Avalanche hockey is that Any Ex Player Must Get a Goal Against Them In a Game. I mean, really – Brad Richardson gets the hat trick at the Pepsi Center tonight?

But that’s just the way it always is, right? Just off the top of my head, I can think of numerous great games by ex-Avs in their first or in a series of games against them over the years.

– Peter Forsberg’s two-goal game against them in Philly his first game. His killer assist to ex-Av Paul Kariya for Nashville that knocked the Avs out of the playoff picture in 2007.
– Dan Hinote scoring a couple times against them with St. Louis. Dan Hinote!
– Jeff Finger for the Maple Leafs. He’s not even in the league right now.
– Teemu Selanne with about 50 goals for Anaheim since he left in 2004.
– Chris Drury with a couple of big goals for Calgary and Buffalo.
– Wojtek Wolski with a game-winner his first game against the Avs last year for Phoenix.
– Mike Keane with huge goals for Dallas in the 1998 playoffs.
– Mike Ricci with some big games for San Jose.

Avs just not good enough again tonight on special teams. The PK has now given up nine goals, second most in the league, and nobody has allowed more short-handed goals than Colorado’s four (and the real number should be five). Richardson’s shot in the yawning net vacated by Craig Anderson was the killer this time. It was a mistake by Anderson, but Jarret Stoll made an awfully good play intercepting his clearout attempt, and as Anderson himself said after the game, he felt his D was caught flat-footed and he needed to make a quick decision on the play. He still accepted responsibility for the play.

But the fact is, there shouldn’t have been any need for him to come out of the net so much, but the Avs’ sloppy play with the puck again on the PP created a dangerous situation in their own end.

Anderson has bailed this team out too much over the last 12 months to start getting all over him. He had a bad night, yes, but he’s not the big problem on this team right now.

The problem, as Joe Sacco alluded to after the game, is that the Avs are just too easy to play against right now in their own end. The defense not only is short-handed right now, with Adam Foote and, now, Scott Hannan out of the lineup, but even with them they have been too mediocre for a while now. They’re too small, not physical enough and get pinned in their own end too easily because of that and all-too-often sloppy passing and overall care of the puck.

Exhibit A tonight was a shift in which the two Kyles – Cumiskey and Quincey – were caught chasing the puck for nearly two solid minutes against the Anze Kopitar line on one shift. (The third line tonight, of Daniel Winnik-Ryan O’Reilly-Brandon Yip was on the ice too, and did the D no favors there, or in general all night).

Now the Avs go on the road to Vancouver, where a loss would put them under .500 for the first time since the end of the 2008-09 season. It’s early of course, but it doesn’t take much to get worried in the Western Conference, which is just brutally tough.

Fall into an early hole, and that can be it in this conference. Bottom line is, the Avs have to do something about their defense and penalty-killing. Oh, but they better not trade anybody in doing so. Because we know they’ll come back to burn them if they do.

Other notes:
– TJ Galiardi seemed OK after the game. He took a stick to the privates from Wayne Simmonds, which drew a 5-minute major. I bet Simmonds gets off from being suspended, because Galiardi wasn’t seriously hurt after all, but it was a cheapshot. Simmonds gave me a terse “no comment” after the game when I asked him about it.

– Scott Hannan walked out of the arena on his own power, and I think he’ll be OK, but for now he’s out with a head injury and you never know. We’ll know more tomorrow.

Tough news for the many Ian Laperriere fans here today: Lappy is out indefinitely with post-concussion symptoms. I chatted some with Lappy today, and he’s understandably bummed, and just hoping the symptoms subside. He’ll visit a specialist in Pittsburgh tomorrow. Concussion stories are becoming all the more frequent around the league, as we well know here in Denver with the Peter Mueller situation. Marc Savard of the Bruins is dealing with recurring symptoms, too, and here’s a great story on his battle with that and depression, by longtime Boston Globe writer and one of my personal heroes, Kevin Paul “Moose” Dupont.

I’ve definitely gotten to know more about the protocol and the frankly stark world of how concussions are handled in the NHL, in the last few days. The fact is, the Avs have never been too badly affected by concussions to players over the years, so it’s never been an area of expertise for me.

Peter Forsberg had a concussion or two. Adam Deadmarsh had one, but they became much more serious when he was an L.A. King. Adam Foote has had a minor one or two over the years. But Peter Mueller’s repeat concussions since coming to Denver last spring have been the most serious in team history, and so it’s been my duty to look deeper into how teams handle them, and what the prospects are of the players who get them. On the latter part, it’s still a very murky subject, with teams and players seemingly still groping around in the dark in trying to effectively treat them.

Former Avs D-man and all-around great guy Rob Blake has decided to retire.

A better guy in hockey, there could not be found. Yeah, I thought he should have been suspended for a hit on TJ Galiardi in the playoffs and railed about it a little bit, but he was still the same great dude when I saw him the next day. He never took it personal, and overall was a great player.

He also cost the Avs their hottest scorer late in the season with a big hit on Peter Mueller, but that one was more just one of those things.

I conversed with Blake briefly today, and he confirmed he’s done, but that we haven’t seen the last of him around hockey rinks. Most likely, he’ll take a front-office job or something somewhere.

What are your favorite memories of No. 4 in an Avs sweater, Av-A-Holics? Can I guess that it might be that picture up above?

Colorado Avalanche player Ryan O'Reilly is credited with the game winner over the San Jose Sharks in the extra period of play in Game 3 of the first round of the NHL Western Conference Playoffs Sunday April 18, 2010 at the Pepsi Center in Denver. (Hyoung Chang, The Denver Post)

Not really sure where to begin on this one. I’ve seen the replays a few times now, and I still am not sure how on god’s green earth Dan Boyle’s backhander from deep in the left corner went past Evgeni Nabokov to end tonight’s 1-0 Avs win in Game 3.

Was Nabokov just so plain bored from inactivity? Were the Sharks feeling sorry for the Avs, who hadn’t seemed to have a shot on goal in about three hours, that they decided to help out with one themselves?

Whatever, as Matt Duchene said after the game, it was the “flukiest” thing he’s ever seen in hockey. And I think I second that. The question lingering after the game was “Did O’Reilly get a stick blade on Boyle’s backhander?” I keep watching the replay, and just can’t really tell. Either way, O’Reilly got the luck of the Irish bounce on that one.

SAN JOSE, Calif. — Greetings from Silicon Valley, where it is slightly chilly and breezy today.

Avs-Sharks Game 1 tonight. It was a fairly routine morning skate, with not a lot of news. Milan Hejduk did not take part in the skate, but no cause for alarm. He frequently skips the morning skate, especially when he skates at practice the day before. So, he will be in his usual spot on the second line tonight.

The third line during the morning skate was McLeod-O’Reilly-Porter, and the fourth was Tucker-Yelle-Hendricks.

Matt Duchene is a go. No further update on Peter MuJeller. Avs wouldn’t say much about what he’s doing back in Denver, other than taking it day by day. Joe Sacco played the “That team has a lot of pressure on them, we’re the underdog” card again, and also took another jab at their previous playoff failures. Sacco said the Sharks have “underachieved” in recent playoffs, and that it is the Avs’ “job” to make that the case again.

I’m not a guy who believes that teams get motivated much by what the other team says about them, but I guess I have been a little surprised Sacco and some of his players have played that card so much.

Here we go. The final week of the season, four games in seven days, the first two on the road, the final two at home. Win two of these games — or just find a way to get four points (but one of them would have to be an actual win, not four OT or SO losses) — and your Colorado Avalanche is in the playoffs. Hard to believe it might still happen, isn’t it?

I remain a “I’ll believe it when I see it” person on their prospects. But let’s face it, the picture got a little brighter yesterday. Calgary went into Chicago and laid an egg, and the Avs pulled out a win that probably almost gave everyone a coronary. These blown third-period leads!

I think what’s going to happen is this: I think the Avs are going to lose tomorrow night in Vancouver and the Flames are going to win at home against the Sharks. That would make things even again in the standings.
But the Avs will still have that one game in hand, and will have a date the next night with the worst team in the conference — the Edmonton Oilers. And I actually think the Avs will find a way to get at least a point that night.

Before I dust off another old VHS tape and provide a running dialogue, thanks to the many well-wishers over my recent, um, colonoscopy. It was certainly an interesting experience. To all of those who absolutely dread the thought of it, there are only two truly abysmal things about it: drinking the JUG of turbo-laxative solution the night and morning beforehand, which will send you RUNNING to the bathroom at least 15-20 times about an hour after swigging it, and the dreaded hospital gown that must be put on right before you get wheeled in. As Dave Barry so perfectly put it, the designer of those gowns obviously was a combination sadist/pervert. Read more…

Just had a nice talk with Christa Deadmarsh, wife of former Avs star Adam Deadmarsh. The family is doing well, living in Idaho, as this picture from the recent wedding of Christa’s sister attests.

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Adam is doing well, working some in the construction business. He would like to get back into hockey at some point, maybe as an assistant coach somewhere, but probably not until the girls are a little older. Read more…

It’s not every day hockey scribblers like me get a chance to talk to a real, live movie star, but yesterday I, along with a handful of other journalists, had a chance to chat with Mike Myers about his forthcoming movie, “The Love Guru.” Read more…

Well, so much for going with a fresh, new approach.
I’ve said it before – nothing the Avalanche does ever totally surprises me. At this point, today’s news that Tony Granato will be the head coach – again – had the effect on me of an already electrocuted man falling into the live wire fence one more time.

I’ll have more to say on this matter later, but for now it’s back to the computer to resurrect all my old profiles of Tony G.

Here’s one quick thought, though: you can’t tell me this move doesn’t at least have Pierre Lacroix’s fingerprints on it just a little. He’s the most stubborn man alive, and hired Granato in the first place. He might want to “see this thing through” and prove to the world Granato was a great choice all along.

Yeah, Granato has a great regular-season record. His playoff record is also 9-9 (I had it 7-9 in an earlier version of this blog, which once again goes to prove what a moron I am with numbers and math).

I’ve thought it over since earlier in the day, and one of the things I’m starting to wonder is: did we maybe pre-judge Granato a little too much?

You look at his record – 72-33-17-11 – and you think, “Hmm, that’s not too bad, is it?

Yeah, he had about eight Hall of Famers on his teams. And, yeah, he lost a first-round series to a Minnesota team he had down 3-1. But let’s not forget how hot that Wild team got in 2003. They beat a very good Vancouver team in the second round, too.

The next season, 2003-04, is considered a disappointment in Avs history. After all, this was a team with a top six forward lineup of Joe Sakic, Milan Hejduk, Alex Tanguay, Paul Kariya, Peter Forsberg and Teemu Selanne. And, a defense with Adam Foote and Rob Blake.

But – and yes, it’s an excuse – but the fact is injuries hurt that team a lot. Astute Avs fans will recall the team was rolling, with the best record in the league in February of that season, when injuries started coming in waves. Kariya hurt his wrist and was ineffective after that, and then he hurt his ankle in the last game of the regular season and missed all but one game of the playoffs. Selanne had the worst year of his career, mainly because of a bum knee that would need surgery. And Forsberg was hurt a lot of the second half, of course.

But that team did DID win a first-round series against a favored Dallas team that had home-ice advantage, and it went to six games against a good San Jose team that got away with a mugging, rodeo-style of defense in the pre-lockout, dead puck era. And, David Aebischer was their starting goalie.

So, while I’m surprised by the move and thought the Avs would move in a fresher direction behind the bench, the question is not an unfair one: Did Granato really get enough of a fair shake the first time around? It IS a fact that he has the highest winning percentage in Avalanche history. Granted, he’s also coached far fewer games than some coaches in the team’s history, but the numbers are the numbers.

I, like a lot of people, probably underestimated the fact that Granato wasn’t sent packing in 2004, but instead was kept on the bench still. The Avs’ front office obviously sees something in Granato, otherwise he never would have gotten the chances he’s gotten.

The cynic in me also says this: The Avs are uncomfortable at the thought of a high-profile, opinionated type of coach, a guy like a Pat Burns or Ron Wilson or Barry Melrose. They want in-house, home-grown guys who they can better control. The real cynic in me says they only want subservient puppets, and they want to stubbornly go against public opinion (i.e., the media) and never admit a mistake. Hence, Granato’s rehire.

I guess next year we’ll start to find out who was right.

– It’s in my story tomorrow, but I think the chances are good Jose Theodore comes back. I talked to his agent today and he’s going to sit down for lunch with Giguere next week in Toronto, and talk some contract over their chicken and pasta. The agent, Don Meehan, has a pretty good relationship with Giguere, having already done one major deal with Giguere (Ryan Smyth).

– I pressed Giguere a bit today on whether Lacroix’s fingerprints are on this rehire, and he got a little defensive. No, he’s not a puppet, was the thrust of his message and no, it was not Lacroix’s call in bringing Granato back. But he also did say that he’s not going to just disavow everything Lacroix ever did either, just to show he’s “his own man.”

– People have gotten all over Granato for the team’s awful power play this year (28th) in the league. But the one full year Granato did coach, the Avs finished third in the league on the PP.

– Granato got the offer late last night, and signed it soon after. There’s no word on who will replace him as an assistant (assuming the team’s institution, Jacques Cloutier, stays on again). I wouldn’t be surprised if Sylvain Lefebvre or even Steve Konowalchuk gets a shot, though.

Just wanted to alert those hockey collectors out there of what I believe is a unique opportunity, starting tomorrow.
I’m auctioning off a signed copy of my Avs-Wings rivalry book “Blood Feud” on NHL.com, starting Wed., April 16 through the 30th.
But not just any signed copy. Many great players from the best rivalry in pro sports during its heyday signed the book, including: Peter Forsberg, Steve Yzerman, Joe Sakic, Nick Lidstrom, Alex Tanguay, Chris Drury, Brendan Shanahan, Milan Hejduk, Rob Blake, Darren McCarty, Kris Draper, Chris Osgood, Sergei Fedorov, Scotty Bowman, Marc Crawford, Bob Hartley, Larry Murphy, Mike Ramsey, Chris Simon, Martin Lapointe, Adam Foote, Dan Hinote, Ken Holland and many others.

The highest bidder will see his money donated to Hockey Fights Cancer. It’s for a good cause, and that’s a lot of Hall of Famers’ signatures in one place. So, raid the piggy bank. I have no idea how much interest this book will draw, so you might get it for a bargain. Or, it might take off in expense. We’ll see.

I have had this book in my possession for nearly two years now, and tried to get it signed by as many players from the rivalry as I could. My paths have not crossed with players such as Patrick Roy, Claude Lemieux, Mike Vernon and Mike Keane, however, so their signatures are not in it – yet. Maybe the winner can carry it forward and get them to sign it.

Tonight was the first time in quite a while that I sat from my barstool – after tonight’s Avs-Oilers game – and thought, ‘Now that’s an attitude to be admired’, after I saw the quote from Mats Sundin on why he would not waive his no-trade clause.
I thought it was wonderful his reasons why: namely, because he didn’t want to give in to the cheap and easy way. Because he didn’t want to be just another deadline-day rental player, who goes to the highest bidder as a mercenary. And one more reason: because it exposed all the crap hockey rumor blogs out there, who get it wrong all the time, as they were on the Sundin story. Read more…

Greetings from a cradle of American retail development gone wild, the Bell Rd. area of Phoenix/Glendale. Just about every store/restaurant/fitness/hotel chain you could ever name is within a Tom Brady throw from where I write.
In town here for tomorrow’s New Year’s Eve matchup between YOUR Colorado Avalanche and Phoenix Coyotes at Jobing.com Arena. That venue name just gives you tingles, doesn’t it? Just like the Fabulous Forum or the Gahden (Boston, of course) or Churchill Downs, you just feel the power of history when you say you’re going to Jobing.com Arena.
Before I get to a few random hockey/Avalanche musings, I want to give fair warning to any fan out there who might want to bid soon on what I feel will be a very unique item of hockey memoribilia. And, yes, it gives me a joint opportunity to gratuitously plug my book “Blood Feud”, about the Avs-Red Wings rivalry. Read more…

Terry Frei graduated from Wheat Ridge High School in the Denver area and has degrees in history and journalism from the University of Colorado-Boulder. He worked for the Rocky Mountain News while attending CU and joined the Post staff after graduation. He has also worked at the Oregonian in Portland, Ore., and The Sporting News. His seventh book, March 1939: Before the Madness, was issued in February 2014.

Chambers covers college and professional hockey for The Denver Post. He has written for the Post since 1994, after dumping his first 9-to-5 office job a couple years out of college. He primarily follows the University of Denver hockey team and helps cover the Avalanche.